LP refuses to sanction Quimbo over Sara defense

Liberal Party president Rep. Edcel Lagman on Tuesday said he sees nothing wrong with Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo having a position different from the party stance which is opposed to the inclusion of confidential and intelligence funds in the proposed 2024 national budget.

"No member is exempted if there is a real cause for ouster or sanction. But in this particular case, it was a differing opinion of a member, and we respect that opinion. We respect the right of a party member to be wrong," Lagman said of Quimbo.

He added that Quimbo's support for the grant of CIFs, specifically for the office of Vice President Sara Duterte and the Department of Education she concurrently heads, is still part of the lawmaker's "freedom of expression and dissent which the LP acknowledges."

Several LP chapters and members, Lagman disclosed, wanted Quimbo sanctioned, but the party's membership committee has opted to retain her membership while refusing to impose on her any disciplinary action.

Quimbo, Lagman noted, later conceded that the utilization and audit of secret funds must be made more transparent and officials made more accountable.

Quimbo's defense of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s confidential funds being downloaded to the Office of the Vice President was anchored on her justification that the OVP could use the funds.

Quimbo had vigorously defended the OVP obtaining P125 million in confidential funds, even if there was no line item for the same under the 2022 national budget.

The P125 million CF was part of the P221.42 million contingency fund of the Office of the President that was transferred to the OVP in 2022, which the opposition claimed was unconstitutional.

"The contingent fund can never be used as confidential funds. By its very nature, it is supposed to be downloaded to agencies that have due or urgent projects and programs which should be spent wisely and without any confidentiality or secrecy," Lagman said.

Quimbo, the senior vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, joined its chair, Elizaldy Co, in justifying the legality of the transfer, claiming that there was nothing "improper" about it and that it was "very consistent" with the chapters of the contingent fund and OVP budget in the 2022 National Expenditure Program.

Lagman, however, did not buy into the appropriation panel's disposition, pointing out that the rationale of having a line item could not be applied in the case due to its contradictory nature to confidential funds.

"Good governance means wise and frugal, as well as open utilization of public funds, while confidential funds are shrouded in secrecy," he said.

Moreover, he asserted that the use  of confidential funds where nothing was appropriated is "a derogation of the power of Congress to appropriate."

Recently, Duterte made headlines over her request anew for secret funds for 2024, amid a report from the Commission on Audit that her office spent P125 million in confidential funds in 2022 in merely 11 days — not 19 days — as initially claimed by some opposition lawmakers.

Under the 2024 NEP, Duterte sought P2.395 billion and P758.6 billion for the OVP and DepEd in the proposed 2024 budget, including P500 million and P150 million in confidential funds, respectively.

However, the House stripped Duterte of the P650 million in total confidential funds following a consensus reached by the House leaders.

The funds will instead be realigned to agencies involved in security and intelligence, such as the Philippine Coast Guard, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Council, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources amid China's persistent assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea.